Thoughts On The Necessity Of Improving The Condition Of The Slaves - Thomas Clarkson
I have now, I think, pretty well canvassed the subject, and I shall
therefore hasten to a conclusion. And first, I ask the West Indians,
whether they think that they will be allowed to carry on their present
cruel system, the arbitrary use of the whip and the chain, and the
brutal debasement of their fellow-creatures, _for ever_. I say, No; I
entertain better hopes of the humanity and justice of the British
people. I am sure that they will interfere, and that when they _once
take up the cause_, they _will never abandon it till they have obtained
their object_. And what is it, after all, that I have been proposing in
the course of the preceding pages? two things only, viz. that the laws
relating to the slaves may be revised by the British parliament, so that
they, may be made (as it was always intended) _to accord with, and not
to be repugnant to_, the principles of the British constitution, and
that, when such a revision shall have taken place, the slaves may be put
into _a state of preparation for emancipation_; and for such an
emancipation only as may be compatible with the joint interests of the
master and the slave. Is there any thing unreasonable in this
proposition? Is it unreasonable to desire that those laws should be
repealed, which are contrary to the laws of God, or that the Africans
and their descendants, who have the shape, image, intellect, feelings,
and affections of men, should be treated as human beings?
The measure then, which I have been proposing, is _not unreasonable_. I
trust it _would not be injurious_ to the interests of the West Indians
themselves. These are at present, it is said, in great distress; and so
they have been for years; and so they will still be (and moreover they
will be getting worse and worse) _so long as they continue slavery_. How
can such a wicked, such an ill-framed system succeed? Has not the
Almighty in his moral government of the world stamped a character upon
human actions, and given such a turn to their operations, that the
balance should be ultimately in favour of virtue? Has he not taken from
those, who act wickedly, the power of discerning the right path? or has
he not so confounded their faculties, that they are for ever frustrating
their own schemes? It is only to know the practice of our planters to be
assured, that it will bring on difficulty after difficulty, and loss
after loss, till it will end in ruin. If a man were to sit down and to
try to invent a ruinous system of agriculture, could he devise one more
to his mind than that which they have been in the habit of using? Let us
look at some of the more striking parts of this system. The first that
stares us in the face, is the unnatural and destructive practice of
_forced labour_. Here we see men working without any rational stimulus
to elicit their exertions, and therefore they must be followed by
drivers with whips in their hands. Well might it be said by Mr. Botham
to the Committees of Privy-council and House of Commons, "Let it be
considered, how much labour is lost by the persons overseeing the forced
labourer, which is saved when he works for his own profit;" and,
notwithstanding all the vigilance and whipping of these drivers, I have
proved that the slaves do more for themselves in an afternoon, than in a
whole day when they work for their masters. It was doubtless the
conviction that _forced labour was unprofitable_, as well as that there
would be less of human suffering, which made Mr. Steele take away the
whips from his drivers, as _the very first step necessary_ in his
improved system, or as the _sine qua non_ without which such a system
could not properly be begun; and did not this very measure _alter the
face of his affairs in point of profit in three years after it had been
put into operation_? And here it must be observed, that, if ever
emancipation should be begun by our planters, this must be (however they
may dislike to part with arbitrary power) as much a first step with them
as it was with Mr. Steele. _Forced labour_ stands at the head of the
catalogue of those nuisances belonging to slavery, which oppose the
planter's gain. It must be removed before any thing else can be done.
See what mischiefs it leads to, independently of its want of profit. It
is impossible that forced labour can be kept up from day to day without
injury to the constitution of the slaves; and if their health is
injured, the property of their masters must be injured also. Forced
labour, again, sends many of them to the sick-houses. Here is, at any
rate, a loss of their working time. But it drives them also occasionally
to run away, and sometimes to destroy themselves. Here again is a loss
of their working time and of property into the bargain. _Forced labour_,
then, is one of those striking parts in the West Indian husbandry, in
which we see a _constant source of loss_ to those who adopt it; and may
we not speak, and yet with truth, as unfavourably of some of the other
striking parts in the same system? What shall we say, first, to that
injurious disproportion of the articles of croppage with the wants of
the estates, which makes little or no provision of food for the
labourers (_the very first to be cared for_), but leaves these to be fed
by articles to be bought three thousand miles off in another country,
let the markets there be ever so high, or the prices ever so
unfavourable, at the time? What shall we say, again, to that obstinate
and ruinous attachment to old customs, in consequence of which even
acknowledged improvements are almost forbidden to be received? How
generally has the introduction of the plough been opposed in the West
Indies, though both the historians of Jamaica have recommended the use
of it, and though it has been proved that _one plough_ with _two sets of
horses_ to relieve each other, would turn up as much land _in a day, as
one hundred Negroes_ could with their hoes! Is not the hoe also
continued in earthing up the canes there, when Mr. Botham proved, more
than thirty years ago, that _two_ men would do more with the East Indian
shovel at that sort of work in a day, than _ten_ Negroes with the former
instrument? So much for _unprofitable instruments_ of husbandry; a few
words now on _unprofitable modes of employment_. It seems, first, little
less than infatuation, to make Negroes carry baskets of dung upon their
heads, basket after basket, to the field. I do not mention this so much
as an intolerable hardship upon those who have to perform it, as an
improvident waste of strength and time. Why are not horses, or mules, or
oxen, and carts or other vehicles of convenience, used oftener on such
occasions? I may notice also that cruel and most disadvantageous mode of
employment of making Negroes collect grass for the cattle, by picking it
by the hand blade by blade. Are no artificial grasses to be found in our
islands, and is the existence of the scythe unknown there? But it is of
no use to dwell longer upon this subject. The whole system is a ruinous
one from the beginning to the end. And from whence does such a system
arise? It has its origin in _slavery_ alone. It is practised no where
but in the land of ignorance and slavery. Slavery indeed, or rather the
despotism which supports slavery, has no compassion, and it is one of
its characteristics _never to think of sparing the sinews of the
wretched creature called a slave_. Hence it is slow to adopt helps, with
which a beneficent Providence has furnished us, by giving to man an
inventive faculty for easing his burthens, or by submitting the beasts
of the field to his dominion and his use, and it flies to expedients
which are contrary to nature and reason. How then can such a system ever
answer? Were an English farmer to have recourse to such a system, he
would not be able to pay his rent for a single year. If the planters
then are in distress, it is their own fault. They may, however, thank
the abolitionists that they are not worse off than they are at present.
The abolition of the slave trade, by cutting off the purchase of new
slaves, has cut off one cause of their ruin[17]; and it is only the
abolition _of slavery which can yet save them_. Had the planters, when
the slave trade was abolished, taken immediate measures to meet the
change; had they then revised their laws and substituted better; had
they then put their slaves into a state of preparation for emancipation,
in what a different, that is, desirable situation would they have been
at this moment! In fact, _nothing can save them, but the abolition of
slavery on a wise and prudent plan_. They can no more expect, without
it, to meet the present low prices of colonial produce, than the British
farmer can meet the present low prices of grain, unless he can have an
abatement of rent, tithe, and taxation, and unless his present poor
rates can be diminished also. Take away, however, from the planters the
use and practice of slavery, and the hour of _their regeneration_ would
be begun. Can we doubt, that Providence would then bless their
endeavours, and that _salvation_ from their difficulties would be their
portion in the end?
It has appeared, I hope, by this time, that what I have been proposing
is not unreasonable, and that, so far from being injurious to the
interests of the planters, it would be highly advantageous to them. I
shall now show, that I do not ask for the introduction of a more humane
system into our Colonies _at a time when it would be improper to grant
it_; or that no fair objection can be raised against the _present
moment_, as _the fit era_ from whence the measures in contemplation
should commence. There was, indeed, a time when the planters might have
offered something like an excuse for the severity of their conduct
towards their slaves, on the plea that the greater part of them then in
the colonies were _African-born_ or _strangers_, and that cargoes were
constantly pouring in, one after the other, consisting of the same sort
of beings; or of _stubborn ferocious people, never accustomed to work,
whose spirits it was necessary to break_, and _whose necks to force down
to the yoke_; and that this could only be effected by the whip, the
chain, the iron collar, and other instruments of the kind. But _now_ no
such plea can be offered. It is now sixteen years since the slave trade
was abolished by England, and it is therefore to be presumed, that no
new slaves have been imported into the British colonies within that
period. The slaves, therefore, who are there at this day, must consist
either of Africans, whose spirits must have been long ago broken, or of
Creoles born in the cradle and brought up in the trammels of slavery.
What argument then can be produced for the continuation of a barbarous
discipline there? And we are very glad to find that two gentlemen, both
of whom we have had occasion to quote before, bear us out in this
remark. Mr. Steele, speaking of some of the old cruel laws of Barbadoes,
applies them to the case before us in these words:--"As, according to
Ligon's account, there were not above two-thirds of the island in
plantations in the year 1650, we must suppose that in the year 1688 the
great number of _African-born_ slaves brought into the plantations in
chains, and compelled to labour by the terrors of corporal punishment,
might have made it appear necessary to enact a temporary law so harsh as
the statute No. 82; but when the _great majority_ of the Negroes were
become _vernacular, born in the island, naturalized by language_, and
_familiarised by custom_, did not _policy_ as well as humanity require:
them _to be put under milder conditions_, such as were granted to the
slaves of our Saxon ancestors?" Colonel Malenfant speaks the same
sentiments. In defending his plan, which he offered to the French
Government for St. Domingo in 1814, against the vulgar prejudice, that
"where you employ Negroes you must of necessity use slavery," he
delivers himself thus:--"[18]If all the Negroes on a plantation had not
been more than six months out of Africa, or if they had the same ideas
concerning an independent manner of life as the Indians or the savages
of Guiana, I should consider my plan to be impracticable. I should then
say that coercion would be necessary: but ninety-nine out of every
hundred Negroes in St. Domingo are aware that they cannot obtain
necessaries without work. They know that it is their duty to work, and
they are even desirous of working; but the remembrance of their cruel
sufferings in the time of slavery renders them suspicious." We may
conclude, then, that if a cruel discipline was _not necessary_ in the
years 1790 and 1794, to which these gentlemen allude, when there must
have been _some thousands of newly imported Africans_ both in St.
Domingo and in the English colonies, it cannot be necessary _now_, when
there have been no importations into the latter for _fifteen years_.
There can be no excuse, then, for the English planters for not altering
their system, and this _immediately_. It is, on the other hand, a great
reproach to them, considering the quality and character of their slaves,
_that they should not of themselves have come forward on the subject
before this time_.
Seeing then that nothing has been done where it ought, it is the duty of
the abolitionists to _resume their labours_. If through the medium of
the abolition of the slave trade they have not accomplished, as they
expected, the whole of their object, they have no alternative but to
resort to _other measures_, or to attempt by constitutional means, under
that Legislature which has already sanctioned their efforts, the
mitigation of the cruel treatment of the Negroes, with the ultimate view
of extinguishing, in due time and in a suitable manner, the slavery
itself. Nor ought any time to be lost in making such an attempt; for it
is a melancholy fact, that there is scarcely any increase of the slave
population in our islands at the present moment. What other proof need
we require _of the severity of the slavery there, and of the necessity
of its mitigation?_ Severe punishments, want of sufficient food, labour
extracted by the whip, and a system of prostitution, conspire, _almost
as much as ever_, to make inroads upon the constitutions of the slaves,
and to prevent their increase. And let it be remembered here, that any
former defect of this kind was supplied by importations; but that
importations are _now unlawful_. Unless, therefore, the abolitionists
interfere, and that soon, our West Indian planters may come to
Parliament and say, "We have now tried your experiment. It has not
answered. You must therefore give us leave to go again to the coast of
Africa for slaves." There is also another consideration worthy of the
attention of the abolitionists, viz. that _a public attempt_ made in
England to procure the abolition of _slavery_ would very much promote
their original object, the cause of the abolition of the slave trade;
for foreign courts have greatly doubted our sincerity as to the latter
measure, and have therefore been very backward in giving us their
assistance in it. If England, say they, abolished the slave trade _from
moral motives_, how happens it _that she continues slavery_? But if this
_public attempt_ were to succeed, then the abolitionists would see their
wishes in a direct train for completion: for if slavery were to fall in
the British islands, this event would occasion death in a given time,
and without striking any further blow, to the execrable trade in every
part of the world; because those foreigners, who should continue
slavery, no longer able to compete in the markets with those who should
employ free men, must abandon the slave trade altogether.
But here perhaps the planters will say, "What right have the people of
England to interfere with our property, which would be the case if they
were to attempt to abolish slavery?" The people of England might reply,
that they have as good a right as you, the planters, have to interfere
with that most precious of all property, _the liberty of your slaves_,
seeing that _you hold them by no right that is not opposed to nature,
reason, justice, and religion_. The people of England have no desire to
interfere with your _property_, but with your _oppression_. It is
probable that your property would be improved by the change. But, to
examine this right more minutely, I contend, first, that they have
always a right to interfere in behalf of humanity and justice wherever
their appeals can be heard. I contend, secondly, that they have a more
immediate right to interfere in the present case, because the oppressed
persons in question, living in the British dominions and under the
British Government, are _their fellow subjects_. I contend again, that
they have this right upon the ground that they are giving you, the West
Indians, _a monopoly_ for their sugar, by buying it from you exclusively
_at a much dearer rate_ than _they can get it from other quarters_.
Surely they have a right to say to you, as customers for your produce,
Change your system and we will continue to deal with you; but if you
will not change it, we will buy our sugar elsewhere, or we will not buy
sugar at all. The East Indian market is open to us, and we prefer sugar
that is not stained with blood. Nay, we will petition Parliament to take
off the surplus duty with which East Indian sugar is loaded on your
account. What superior claims have you either upon Parliament or upon
us, that you should have the preference? As to the East Indians, they
are as much the subjects of the British empire as yourselves. As to the
East India Company, they support all their establishments, both civil
and military, at their own expense. They come to our Treasury for
nothing; while you, with naval stations, and an extraordinary military
force kept up for no other purpose than to keep in awe an injured
population, and with heavy bounties on the exportation of your sugar,
put us to such an expense as makes us doubt whether your trade is worth
having on its present terms. They, the East India Company, again, have
been a blessing to the Natives with whom they have been concerned. They
distribute an equal system of law and justice to all without respect of
persons. They dispell the clouds of ignorance, superstition, and
idolatry, and carry with them civilization and liberty wherever they go.
You, on the other hand, have no code of justice but for yourselves. You
_deny it_ to those who _cannot help themselves_. You _hinder liberty_ by
your cruel restrictions on manumission; and dreading the inlet of light,
_you study to perpetuate ignorance and barbarism_. Which then of the two
competitors has the claim to preference by an English Parliament and an
English people? It may probably soon become a question with the latter,
whether they will consent to pay a million annually more for West India
sugar than for other of like quality, or, which is the same thing,
whether they will allow themselves to be _taxed annually to the amount
of a million sterling to support West Indian slavery_.
I shall now conclude by saying, that I leave it; and that I recommend
it, to others to add to the light which I have endeavoured to furnish on
this subject, by collecting new facts relative to Emancipation and the
result of it in other parts of the world, as well as relative to the
superiority of free over servile labour, in order that the West Indians
may be convinced, if possible, that they would be benefited by the
change of system which I propose. They must already know, both by past
and present experience, that the ways of unrighteousness are not
profitable. Let them not doubt, when the Almighty has decreed the
balance in favour of virtuous actions, that their efforts under the new
system will work together for their good, so that their temporal
redemption may be at hand.
THE END.
Printed by Richard Taylor, Shoe-Lane, London.
Footnotes:
[1] See Dickson's Mitigation of Slavery, p. 18.
[2] See Dickson's Mitigation of Slavery, p. 339.
[3] Mitigation of Slavery, p. 50.
[4] See Dickson's Mitigation of Slavery, p. 102.
[5] A part of the black regiments were bought in Africa as recruits, and
were not transported in slave-ships, and, never under West India
masters: but it was only a small part compared with the whole number in
the three cases.
[6] Memoire historique et politique des Colonies, et particulierement de
celle de St. Domingue, &c. Paris, August 1814. 8vo. p. 58.
[7] Pp. 125, 126.
[8] There were occasionally marauding parties from the mountains, who
pillaged in the plains; but these were the old insurgent, and not the
emancipated Negroes.
[9] P. 78.
[10] Memoires, p. 311.
[11] Ibid. p. 324.
[12] The French were not the authors of tearing to pieces the Negroes
alive by bloodhounds, or of suffocating them by hundreds at a time in
the holds of ships, or of drowning them (whole cargoes) by scuttling and
sinking the vessels;--but the _planters_.
[13] All the slave-population was to be emancipated in 18 years; and
this consisted at the time of passing the decree of from 250,000 to
300,000 souls.
[14] See Dr. Dickson's Mitigation of Slavery, London 1814, from whence
every thing relating to this subject is taken. Dr. Dickson had been for
many years secretary to Governor Hay, in Barbadoes, where he had an
opportunity of studying the Slave agriculture as a system. Being in
London afterwards when the Slave Trade controversy was going on in
Parliament, he distinguished himself by silencing the different writers
who defended the West Indian slavery. There it was that Mr. Steele
addressed himself to him by letter, and sent him those invaluable
papers, which the Doctor afterwards published under the modest title of
"Mitigation of Slavery by Steele and Dickson." No one was better
qualified than Dr. Dickson to become the Editor of Mr. Steele.
[15] It is much to be feared that this beautiful order of things was
broken up after Mr. Steele's death by his successors, either through
their own prejudices, or their unwillingness or inability to stand
against the scoffs and prejudices of others. It may be happy, however,
for thousands now in slavery, that Mr. Steele lived to accomplish his
plan. The constituent parts and result of it being known, a fine example
is shown to those who may be desirous of trying emancipation.
[16] Mr. Botham's account is confirmed incontrovertibly by the fact,
that sugar made in the East Indies can be brought to England (though it
has three times the distance to come, and of course three times the
freight to pay), and yet be afforded to the consumer at as cheap a rate
as any that can be brought thither from the West.
[17] Dickson's Mitigation of Slavery, p. 213, where it is proved that
bought slaves never refund their purchase-money to their owners.
[18] P. 125.